Goodbye, Nora!

I really can’t believe Nora Ephron left us.
I had the chance to meet her last January in New York, where we were seated in front of each other during a dinner at my friend Antonio Monda’s place. I was at first intimidated by the fact of having her at the other side of the table, but Nora was so kind and smiley that after literally 10 minutes we were talking and laughing together like we were old friends. It was quite easy to find a common ground: she was crazy about cinema as much as I am. That night, we were discussing about TV series. She was a huge fan of Homeland, a series I still had to see at that time (and when I saw it, I completely agreed with her), while she didn’t like The Killing, that I actually loved, and so we discussed a lot about plots, constructions, dialogues. She was very curious and genuinely interested in knowing my opinion, and this was very nice to experience. I remember she was incredibly witty: every now and then she was saying something so funny that every person around the table couldn’t stop laughing and looking at her sparkling and smiling eyes.
The only time I saw her a bit sad was when I asked about her new projects. She said she was writing and actually had some things ready but that it was very hard to find the money to produce them. I thought it was quite incredible that she had troubles finding money. I mean, Nora Ephron was not only a reputed filmmaker and screenwriter of great comedies, but also a committed artist, a feminist, an important novelist. There must be something rotten in the reign of Hollywood not to give enough space to a woman like that! Don't you think?
Before she left the apartment that night (together with her lovely husband Nicholas Pileggi, the screenwriter of Goodfellas and Casino by Martin Scorsese... hey, what a couple, by the way!), I managed to tell her my admiration: I do believe that When Harry Met Sally has been the last perfect American romantic comedy. And I also let her know that the first time I decided to visit New York (back in 2000), was immediately after having seen You’ve got m@il. I told her: once I saw New York in that movie, I just couldn’t wait any longer to come here! She seemed happy to hear that.

I’ve always been in love with that movie: the streets of New York in autumn, the bookshop of Kathleen Kelly: The shop around the corner (of Lubitsch-esque memory)... ah, the deception when I found out it wasn’t real!, the apartment where Kathleen lives, Kathleen and Joe’s chatting, the presence of Indie actress Parker Posey in the role of Joe’s girlfriend, the café where they met the first time (Café Lalo, and that was real, because I went there immediately!)… everything was so charming, adorable, funny, and incredibly romantic. But never cheesy, because Nora Ephron was too smart to be cheesy.

There was this sentence, simple but really special, that was stuck in my memory for ever and was almost a compendium of what New York means to me: Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

I think that if I knew Nora's new address, this is what I would send her today: a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils, with a short note: Thank you!

Bertolucci, Ti voglio bene!

Una settimana fa è morto il regista Giuseppe Bertolucci.
Fratello minore di Bernardo e secondogenito del poeta Attilio, è stato forse il Bertolucci meno conosciuto ma non per questo meno interessante. 
Ci sono registi a cui a volte ci si affeziona anche solo per un film, e per me con Bertolucci è stato così. Non ho visto tutte le sue opere, non conosco bene la sua produzione, ma lui è il regista e lo sceneggiatore (insieme a Benigni) di Berlinguer Ti voglio bene, e tanto mi basta. 

Ho visto questo film moltissimi anni dopo la sua uscita, grazie ad un caro amico fiorentino, e non a caso. Berlinguer Ti voglio bene è un vero e proprio caso di film culto, in Toscana. Tutti lo conoscono, tutti lo hanno visto, e in tanti citano le sue battute a memoria, come fosse una sorta di Rocky Horror Picture Show nostrano.  
Film del 1977, Berlinguer Ti voglio bene è stato girato in soli 28 giorni nella zona di Prato e dintorni, e quando è uscito è stato un vero e proprio fiasco (in parte dovuto al fatto che fosse vietato ai minori di 18 anni). Protagonista assoluto della pellicola è il giovane Cioni Mario, interpretato dallo stesso Benigni (all'epoca 25enne): giovane operaio che vive con la madre in un casolare isolato, Cioni passa il suo tempo con gli amici al bar, a vedere film porno al cinema, ad andare con prostitute, o a vagare per la campagna toscana facendo a voce alta ragionamenti sconclusionatissimi sulla vita, l'amore, le donne.  

Cioni Mario, un mito

Classico esempio di film troppo avanti rispetto al suo tempo, Berlinguer Ti voglio bene fa parte di una piccola nicchia di film italiani dalla comicità surreale, intelligente, provocatoria, dissacrante e al tempo stesso poetica, di cui si sente sempre più la mancanza. 
Bertolucci e Benigni, scrivendolo, e poi girandolo, non hanno avuto paura di niente, né dal punto di vista dei contenuti, né dal punto di vista dello stile. In questo senso, la scena più indimenticabile del film è un lungo piano sequenza di Cioni Mario che alla notizia (in realtà una bufala) della morte della madre, si mette a vagare per la campagna recitando un monologo infarcito di scurrilità, parole incomprensibili e parolacce. E' una scena potentissima che lascia assolutamente sconvolti. Ho letto da qualche parte che Bernardo Bertolucci si commuoveva di fronte ai piani sequenza di Godard, ma vorrei dirgli che anche quelli di suo fratello non erano niente male! Guardate qua:


Il film è anche irresistibile perché riesce ad ironizzare su quelle cose tipiche degli anni '70, come i dibattiti politici e culturali all'epoca tanto in voga, facendosi beffe di quei discorsi che oggi verrebbero considerati parte del politically correct e che all'epoca facevano capolino forse per la prima volta. Anche in questo caso, guardate che gioiello è la scena della tombola alla quale fa seguito un dibattito culturale sulla parità uomo - donna (la mitica frase:  "Sospensione di ricreativo, principia avviare il culturale" è una delle cose che mi hanno fatto più ridere al cinema in tutta la mia vita):

Il film è sorprendente anche nelle scelte del cast: a parte una serie di attori locali e altri non -professionisti, nel ruolo della madre di Cioni troviamo un'inedita Alida Valli. Attrice bravissima e coraggiosa, qui ci regala una prova lontana anni luce dai film di Visconti in cui eravamo abituati a vederla. Grandiosa:

Berlinguer Ti voglio bene è un film bellissimo perché totalmente libero. E' ribelle nel senso più nobile del termine, perché si fa beffe di tutto: religione, politica, convenzioni sociali, ma lo fa in maniera sincera, spontanea, quasi infantile. C'è una gioia incontenibile e una punta di tristezza profonda che ne fanno un oggetto-film davvero bizzarro ma assolutamente irresistibile. Insomma, lo avrete capito, io questo film lo amo.
Qualche anno fa, mi è capitato di incontrare Giuseppe Bertolucci dietro le quinte di uno spettacolo di Benigni: eravamo nella stessa stanza ma non ho avuto il coraggio di dirgli niente. Stranamente, non ho seguito una delle regole d'oro della mia vita, ovverosia: quando incontri qualcuno che fa delle cose che ami, diglielo, perché potrebbe non esserci più un'altra occasione. Non so come me la sono lasciata sfuggire, quel giorno, l'occasione.  Di dirgli quanto mi fosse piaciuto il suo film, di quanto lo considerassi speciale. Allora lo faccio oggi, grazie al mio blog, sperando che da qualche parte il mio messaggio gli arrivi: Bertolucci, Ti voglio bene!

Questo post lo dedico ad Andrea Parigi, l'amico grullo che mi ha fatto conoscere il film! 

Mad Men (but Great Women!)

The Season 5 of Mad Men is over and this is very sad news.
I often say to my friends that I couldn't live anymore without TV series, and when I say this, they laugh, thinking I'm joking, but I don't. TV series make my life better. They’re a concentrate of what I adore in movies with an important difference: they last longer. Isn’t that great? 
I watch a lot of TV series, of different types, from different countries, with different plots, but Mad Men always had a special place in my heart. The other day I watched the last episode and I was trying to understand the reasons why I find this show (and this last season in particular) so amazing.
Well, guys, here’s my list:


The Inside

Forget about streets, roads, views of the city, views of skyscrapers or the countryside. 

Mad Men is never about the outside, it is just about the inside. The characters are always seen indoor: in their offices, in their apartments, in restaurants, bars or hotel rooms. It is very, very rare to see them en plein air. Even when they travel, all you can see is the inside of planes, trains, cars.

This, of course, has consequences on the series “way of being”: Mad Men is just about what’s going on inside each character. It is like constantly being inside their heads.

Don and Megan Drapers' Apartment - Season 5

The Style

No doubt about this: Mad Men is the most stylish series ever made. 
Maybe it is because I am obsessed with the 50’s and 60’s decades, but I can’t recall any another show having so much class. Elegance is an attitude, but for these guys is a religion.

The way they dress, their houses, their furniture, their bags, their shoes, even their ashtrays... anything, it is simply perfect. And the things I wouldn’t be ready to do to own one - oh, just one! - of these women’s outfits. I can’t really tell you…

Betty Draper, Joan Harris and Peggy Olson

The Cruelty
Life is cruel, but Mad Men is even crueller. 

There is no space for pity, in this show. Men are cheating constantly on their wives or girlfriends and usually treating women as inferior human beings, colleagues are ready to any ignominious act to be successful, mothers are awful towards their sons and daughters, women treat shamefully other women whose behaviour is nonstandard (divorcées, singles, women living with a man without being married). This cruelness’s grandiosity is even more powerful because never shouted, but always subtle. Covered by piles of good manners and chilling but gracious words. Basically, every ten minutes, we are obliged to remember how horrible human nature can be.

Don Draper, Lane Pryce

The Irony

Sure, this show is cruel but it is also incredibly funny. 

People are so clever that their dialogues are full of unforgettable jokes, smart answers and witty remarks. Some of Roger Sterling’s quotes are simply too good to be true. Just a small example taken from this last season: in front of a couple of colleagues who are fighting, he looks around and says: I know we should stop them, but hey, am I the only one in this room who wants so badly to see them fight?  

Simply irresistible.

Joan Harris, Roger Sterling... and whose baby?

 The Moral dilemmas

Do you want to know what Mad Men is all about? It is about moral dilemmas.

In each episode, characters are obliged to face small and big moral issues and to show how they manage to solve them. Most of the times they fail, but the audience is hooked, because these are the same dilemmas we all have or had to face at a certain moment of our life. The debates could be about anything: a problem at work, a family business, a lover’s request, a decision to make, a situation to understand, an opportunity to take.

We suffer, we struggle, we cry, and we feel compassion for them. Matthew Weiner is a genius in writing this kind of stuff. Just one example taken from the last season: Peggy offers to the new Don Draper’s secretary Dawn (a black girl) to  spend the night at her place because in Harlem there are some troubles and it is dangerous to get back late at night. When Peggy is about to leave her living room, where Dawn is sleeping, she realizes that her handbag is on a table near the couch. Weiner just shows Peggy’s look to her handbag. No dialogue. No moves. In just a fraction of a second, he shows us what racism was at that time in the States. Impeccable.

Dawn Chambers and Betty Draper

The Women

Warning! Spoiler about Season 5 (from now on).

Mad Men’s Women are quite amazing, and I personally suffered together with them for all the bad things they’ve been obliged to go through in all these seasons, but Season Five, well, is the season of their revenge. Joan finally get rid of the asshole she had married, Peggy takes the biggest decisions of her life: to move together with her boyfriend without getting married and to change job, and Megan manages to transform Don Draper, the man who saute sur tout ce qui bouge (a very elegant French way to describe a man who's unable to keep his penis in his pants) into a faithful and lovely husband. The only one who remains a bit in the shadow is Betty, Don's first (well, second) wife, but she is able to recover from a bad illness and even to show a bit of love for her daugther Sally (another little woman who reserves big surprises in this series). 
These women are beautiful, strong, smart, witty, adorable and unpredictable.
And tough and cruel, yes, but - hey! - what do you expect? They have to deal with Mad Men!

Peggy Olson, Joan Harris 

Megan Draper

Betty Draper, fat version

Sally Draper, the new Mad Men generation

The Loneliness

I really think the main theme of the whole series is the solitude.

If you want to know how lonely you can be in your existence, then watch any episode of Mad Men. Don Draper is a man profoundly unhappy and lonely. Due to his miserable childhood, and the particular events who made him change his identity, Don remains somebody very detached from other human beings. His nature is a tortured one; he is constantly unsatisfied, always trying to fill the void inside him by accumulating conquests (women as well as advertising campaigns). In this last season, his character’s evolution is incredibly interesting. Don seems to have found – at last – The Woman he was looking for. Megan is beautiful but also able to stand for her rights, her wishes, her self-respect. I personally think that this is a beginning, and not an arrival point, for Don. I don’t think Megan will be enough, for him, and I believe the final episode proves me right. So it doesn't surprise me that the last question asked to Don by a couple of young girls in a bar is: Are you alone?

Aren't we all? 

Don Draper, his sigarette, a Manhattan bar

And the only possible solution, I guess, is Don Draper's one: An Old Fashioned, please.
Make it double!

Welcome

Ho viaggiato molto nelle ultime settimane, e mi scuso con i miei lettori per aver trascurato un po' il blog.

Sono anche stata, per la prima volta nella mia vita, in Svezia. 

Non avevo nessun motivo particolare per andare in questo paese. Se non, credo, il desiderio di vedere il luogo che aveva dato i natali a Ingmar Bergman. Quando non viaggio per lavoro, è raro che vada in posti che non c'entrino nulla con il cinema, e Bergman è uno dei miei registi preferiti. Amo i suoi film: le immagini, la luce, i luoghi, i dialoghi, i silenzi, l'abilità con cui disseziona, spiega e interpreta l'animo umano, con cui racconta l'amore e il disamore tra le persone, la disperazione con cui cerca di dare un senso alla vita, e il suo interrogarsi sull'esistenza o meno (piuttosto meno, temo, se si pensa a Luci d'Inverno) di un essere superiore.

Arrivata all'aeroporto di Stoccolma, con mia grande sorpresa, mi sono vista accogliere da fotografie di famosi personaggi svedesi. Gli Abba, ça va sans dire, ma anche Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo e Stellan Skarsgard (attore per il quale ho sempre avuto un debole). Proprio un attimo prima che le porte si aprissero sull'uscita, c'era una foto in bianco & nero di Ingmar Bergman. Welcome to my hometwon, diceva la scritta accanto al suo volto.

Voi adesso penserete che sono proprio una cretina, ma io ho avuto un colpo al cuore. 

Mi sono sentita un groppo in gola, come se avessi trovato un amico ad accogliermi lì in aeroporto. Benvenuta, mi diceva Ingmar, e io avrei voluto buttargli le braccia al collo e dirgli che mi sentivo già un po' a casa.